The Middle
by Viylu04
Summary: Sam is- was, your average teen. But after being involved in a terrible accident, she awakens to something unimaginable.
1. Chapter 1

Everything was calm. It was as if she was floating on nothingness, which was surprisingly comfortable for her rickety old bed.

Sam felt around for her blanket. And pillow. Where did they go? She opened her eyes a crack. Her little brother must've taken it, in an attempt to wake her. With a groan, Sam sat up and was forced to lie back down again, due to the extreme feeling of nausea.

"Woah, there! Careful, that was a nasty transition."

Who was that? A transition from what? Sam tried again, succeeding this time. The dizziness passed, but when she looked up, she wasn't in her bed.

"Heya." The one who spoke from before. It was a stranger, wearing something that looked like it was from an action movie. A black leather jacket with a hood, navy jeans and combat boots. The sheathed sword and vertical scar on the right eye practically shouted _'I'm an anime character who's going to kick your butt if you don't run right now'_.

Alarmed, Sam raised a hand in defence, hoping no one would notice it tremble. ' _Ow, ow, ow, everything hurts._ But wait… THAT WASN'T HER HAND. There was no texture to it, and it was … gray? Upon closer inspection, so was the rest of her body. A wave of embarrassment washed over her upon realising that the t-shirt and jeans weren't hers, but Sam brushed it away. There were more important things to worry about right now.

Her mind was racing a million miles an hour, with thoughts like _'Where am I?'_ and _'Is this a dream?'_ Looking around, everything was a shade of grey. No walls, just an endless expanse of vast… _nothingness_. The only other person for as far as Sam could see was the one in front of her. He-? She-? Seemed amused by her confusion.

They arose, and her heart beat quicker. Clearly, something had happened, but what? Wary of the stranger, she called out, "Hello? Who are you?"

"..."

"Answer me!" she demanded. "I swear, if you're one of Jack's friend's trying to prank me again..."

Still, there was no reply as they moved forward. Sam could see their face. Their eyes were closed and smiling when she heard a chuckle. _'_

 _That's not any voice I know.'_

"Okay… I know you can talk, you just warned me-"

"Hm." Head still lowered, they got even nearer. "You're Sam, right?"

How did they know her name?

"Now, I'm not usually one for introductions, but I'll make an exception." A hand reached for the sword strapped to their back. A separate part of her wondered when it was unsheathed as she scrambled backwards. No way could she win in a struggle if they had a weapon.

"Welcome to..." her eyes widened in disbelief.

" ."

What- How-? Her eyes darted quickly from their mismatched eyes to wings to clothes to the bloodied sword they carried. Who- What were they?

"Ah, was that too much?" The stranger asked with concern in their voice. Just then, Sam noticed that her mouth had fallen open and quickly snapped it shut. First impressions were important, and seeing that nobody else would be around for help…

She drew herself up from the ground with as much dignity as possible and greeted him… her…? In respect, Sam decided on 'them' for now.

"That's the spirit. You sure you okay?"

"..."

"Um, Sam?"

"You startled me, that's all." More questions popped up, as if her brain wasn't already full enough.

"… If you say so." Was rubbing your eyes offensive in this strange place? Or repetitive self-pinching? The look they gave her was unsettling, to say the least. "Follow me. I know of a better place to talk."

Should she accept the hand that they extended?

Probably. Even if she did make a run for it, she found that they had backed her up against a wall- when had that happened? No maps, clothes, food, or coverage, coupled with the fact that they could easily outdistance her with those wings, sealed the deal. With a jolt, the realisation that they had probably planned this hit her. How could she have been so naive?

Like, stranger danger! Sam mentally kicked herself in the head.

"Hey. Earth to-" Sam gave a shriek when she saw a hand only millimetres in front of her eyes.

"Woah! Okay, okay," they drew their hand back from her face. "You kinda… blanked out on me. Is your head still bothering you?" Despite the pain, she shook her head. No way was she letting them close again, after seeing that blood on the sword.

"Well then… let's go?" Before she could react, she was enveloped in shadows.

* * *

The darkness was suffocating. Literally. Sam fought for each breath, the only thing grounding them being the stranger's hand. _'Since when did breathing require so much conscious effort?'_

It felt like- no. It _was_ forever, every orifice of skin burning but freezing, moving yet still. She felt her knees suddenly collide with the hard ground, and retched. God forbid she have to do that ever again.

"I'm sorry about that," Here she was, puking her guts out, and all they could say was sorry? "I wasn't meant to support a being such as you... "

 _'_ _A being such as me?'_ She thought it over, and stood up. "Okay, that's it! I want answers. First, you kidnap me, then torture me, then you apologise? What in the actual hell?" Her hand flew up when she felt the sensation and went to resume where she had left off.

Except for the previous puddle of bile wasn't there anymore.

Sam stared at the spot in astonishment. "Oh my gosh lookit it's gone haHaHA!" Uncontrollable laughter came out instead of the vomit she'd expected. "HAHAHAhAHahahah...heh…"

And then it all went black. Again.


	2. Chapter 2

p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;" "Now use worrying 'bout it, H.S. 6,968,713,524," a voice muttered./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"Sam groaned. Man, no more pizza before bed if she was going to deal with these crazy dreams again./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Look who's finally up!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"She shot up like a poker. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"No, no, no, this can't be happening, this can't be real!/em Her captor, back to the way they looked when they first met, was holding a wet cloth to her forehead. With a screech, Sam swatted their hand away./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Okay, okay! I get it, you don't trust me." Sam was up on her feet, fists raised. The stranger got a tick in their eye. "But really, I'm trying to help!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""So, you're going to heal me to torture me again?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""No! Damnit, women were so much easier to handle back then..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"The way they said 'woman' clicked with something in her mind. "So you're a guy?" Did she have to worry about him being a rapist, too?/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Void forbid."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Female? Transgender?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""M'not either of those."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Then what?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Yeah, sure. I'm a what." They smirked at her, making her blood boil. She was not going to be toyed with!/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Well then, em style="box-sizing: border-box;"what the /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"$# /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;" are you/em?" All pleasantries abandoned. It was never her strong suit./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""I'm the arbiter of life."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""The hell's a arbiter?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""A judge."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Of life?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Is me."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"Sam growled. No time for riddles, Mom and Dad were going to kill her. "Fine, oh so mysterious stranger. How long have I been here?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Uh..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Tell me!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"They just shrugged. "Time works differently here, 'especially since you don't exi-" stopping themselves, they shrugged again. "Actually, it's best if you don't know." With a burst of speed on Sam's part, they suddenly found themselves pinned to a wall./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""And WHY SHOULDN'T I?" It felt good to be in control again, but they seemed to have a knack for retaliating./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Well, we wouldn't want that pretty little head of yours exploding, would we?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"She seethed in anger. Whatever they were must have acknowledged it, because they backed/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"off. "I'll give you a few minutes alone, before I- send someone else in."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""There are others? Who?" And how did they think they were getting away? She wasn't letting go anytime soon-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"'em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Wait.' /emThere was nothing in her hands. 'em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Where did-'/em/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;""Over here, darling," Sam whipped around to see them several feet away. "What- how-?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"They gave a chuckle and wiggled their fingers, saying "Maaaaaagiiic."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"You know what? Screw this. She was tired and things were messing with her style="box-sizing: border-box;" 'This is a bad dream. It just has to be...' /emSam put her head in her arms, facing away. Even though she heard a door creak, she didn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her turn around. Only when she was sure they were gone did Sam get up. Searching frantically, her efforts bore no fruit. 'em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Where is it where is it where is it!' /emThat door was probably the only exit, as years of reading of the Dungeon series told her. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"'Come on...'/em/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"A few minutes passed in silence, with Sam staring at the spot they'd exited. Then an hour. Then… longer. By now, she was desperate for another living being./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"The cold vast void felt hostile, ready to pounce at any moment. Even if it was a mouse, or a tree, or even just a puddle of water. Heck, em style="box-sizing: border-box;"anything/em to take away the sheer emptiness that surrounded her. Anything, even… even em style="box-sizing: border-box;"them/em./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"And Sam hated herself for feeling that./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"It was as if betraying herself, wanting her torturer to come back. It also showed weakness, something she could not afford to have here. So she distracted herself, walking around and thinking up names to call them when they came back. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"'Idiot. Hick. Arseface. Freak. Dickhead.' /emAnything to make them lose their cool for once./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #333333;"Sam gave a sigh and continued pacing./p 


	3. Chapter 3

_Creak._ "Hello, child. Have you had dinner yet?" From her hiding place behind the chair, Sam's jaw dropped wide open.

Their hair was smoother, not rough and tousled like it had been meeting her. Leather jacket and jeans were now skinny jeans and a white lab coat. ' _Why do they look so different?_ ' _'_ Even their speech wasn't the same, although it was the same voice.

"H.S.!" Asil ran up to them, just like they planned, and asked, "Are you going to take me home now?"

"Did you eat your dinner?"

"Yeah!" Asil wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing chocolate all over. "And dessert, too!"

H.S. gave a gentle smile. "That's nice, but don't overdo it on the ice-cream, okay? Can't have your mama and papa scolding me for getting you all hyper."

"They won't mind."

H.S. raised an eyebrow playfully. "Really, now?"

Sam felt a tinge of envy. Maybe, if they had been playing doctor when she met them, she wouldn't have all these problems. But at least she knew the truth. Sam wondered how many others they revealed themselves to.

"Why are there two armchairs in here?" they questioned. In answer, Asil held up her teddy bear. "I was talking to Celeste. She's a bit shy, though, so she can't talk."

"Hm." with a wave of their hand, 'Celeste' was dressed in miniature clothing. "Maybe talking doesn't suit them, but they sure are good listeners, aren't they?"

Asil nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I was telling her all about a lot of things."

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh. Like, how I wish I could explore. But I can never find the door you come in through. Me and S...eleste looked all over!"

H.S. narrowed their eyes. "You... have met with Sam. Darling, she's not a good influence. Did she tell you how she got out?"

Asil bit her lower lip nervously, "W-who's Sam? I don't know a Miss Sam!"

Sam was sweating behind the armchair. She had a backup plan, in case Asil messed up. Asil just needed to cue her.

"Sam is a neutral name that could be assigned to any gender. To know that Sam is a 'Miss', not a 'Mr.', 'Mrs.' or 'Ms.', you would've had to meet her." That clever bastard! In her anger, she almost missed the signal.

Vaulting over the couch, the conjured red cape behind her fluttered dramatically. ' _Intimidation tactics might actually be useful for this._ '

"Hiya, H.S. Care to give us some answers?" Sam held her fists up, ready for a tussle.

"And if I do not?"

Sam punched the air in their direction, desperately hoping for her plan to work. H.S. stumbled back, a satisfactory scratch on their face. "Then I'll give you more scars to match the one on your eye."

To her annoyance, H.S. just chuckled. "I see that you have figured out how to adapt the void's powers to your advantage. Well, no matter." They side-stepped the next air punch. With a snap of their fingers, their weird eye lit up. A doorway appeared. "Go forth and explore. I shall not stop you."

Grabbing Asil, Sam sprinted for the door. Anywhere but here, was a better chance of escaping. Besides, if they changed their mind…

She knocked H.S. out while passing by and entered the darkness.

* * *

The next room was far from what either of them expected. Sunshine filtered in through the stained glass, creating beautiful coloured patches on the floor. And the books. Sixteen long shelves of books, more than twice as many as the biggest library she'd been to, adorned the walls.

"Woah." both of them said simultaneously.

This made Asil giggled, "Jinx."

Good to know that the little genius actor was still a kid at heart.

Setting her passenger down, Sam examined the nearest book. "Sam A. Rowanheart. One slash twenty-eight slash- something illegible -C.E., Eighth Year of Life." Why did it have her name on it? Carefully removing the writing from its dusty frame, she flipped to a random page. "Let's see… "

 _She grabbed the toy and made big, Bambi eyes at her father. "Please, Daddy?"_

" _Mommy's going to be upset…_ "

" _But you promised, Daddy! You said, ''I will get you that toy if you stop bothering me, and go do your homework.'_ '"

 _His eyes creased in a smile. "Alright, alright. You know, I spoil you too much."_

A wet splotch appeared on the handwritten page, smearing the ink. Sam remembered the good times she had with her father, before he passed. Gently caressing the book, she looked down. Asil was tugging on the hem of her shirt. "Miss Sam?"

Composing herself, she let out a choked "Yeah?"

"Why are you crying?"

Sam wiped away the unbidden tears. "I'm not crying, sweetie." Seeing the sceptical look on the other's face, "C'mon, let's see if there's another room." But when they turned around…

The doorway wasn't there.

"It closed right after we stepped through," Asil told her. _'Oh no.'_

"That's okay, we'll just find- or wish for- another door. Why don't we split up?"

The little girl nodded, eyes full of determination. "Yes ma'am," and gave a salute before running off.

"Don't wander too far!" Sam shouted after her, before realising how motherly she was being. "Ha ha..."

She flipped through more pages, than books, finding events, described in vivid detail, of her life when she was eight. Going onto the next aisle, it was words upon words of transcribed memories from when she was nine. Every single day, every little secret, every lie and hope and thought. Everything was recorded in these pages. _'How long this must've taken to write… months, years, even… a lifetime.'_ With a start, the idea that H.S., or someone else, was probably the writer, surfaced. She shook it off, knowing that they couldn't have stalked her since the very beginning. Or, known her dreams. She would have to investigate this later.

Moving on to the last shelf of books, Sam noticed that these looked newer. Again, everything was titled with a date and her name, and the 'year of life'.

"Sixteenth Year of Life..." That's it! It was probably recorded somewhere how she got here!

Running down the hallway created by the bookshelf and wall, Sam stopped at the end.

"Where is it where is it where is it- ah ha!"

She triumphantly raised her prize up in the air - 'Sam A. Rowanheart. 7/06/o͡#͍̤i̶͇͚̱n͚%t͏̘̥ C.E., Sixteenth Year of Life'

"Why are all the years unreadable?" she gave a sigh of disappointment. "Well, at least I know from my own knowledge."

Realizing that she hadn't checked on Asil for a while, Sam called out, "ASIIIIL! ASIL?"

"Yes, Miss Sam?" came the faint reply.

"JUST CHECKING TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE SAFE!" and then she went back to the book. "Seven o' clock. It looks like I was excited. I was… going to take the test drive for driving school! Oh yeah, I'm probably missing that right now." How could she have forgotten? Thumbing through breakfast and the bus ride, until she was driving. "The clipboard he held… I made a left… WHAT!" She almost dropped the book in surprise.

 _'Suddenly, a white SUV van (license plate being Minnesota, FAA-4563, 10,000 lakes) came around the corner, having ran a red light. Impact was unavoidable, even as the instructor reached for the emergency brake. The car was hit on the port side, then from the back as they interrupted the flow of traffic. Airbags inflated in less than a second, but not fast enough to catch the debris. Sam's head slammed into the stick, coffee scalding her face. The instructor, by a sheer miracle, was still alive. But it seems that Sam is lurching into The Middle. Ah, that is quite sad. It will be a rough journey for her._

 _It seems that, after only sixteen short human years, my job is coming to an end. What form will I greet her in, I wonder? Perhaps… drawing number 3,465 will do. Bid life farewell, Sam, as you enter my realm. And, as I see a future where, you may be reading this, you may want to look behind you.'_

Slowly, the said person turned around to come face to face with the 'author' this biography.

"Hello, Sam."

By instinct, she swiped at them. They caught her hand with ease. "How rude."

If she couldn't save herself, at least she had to warn her companion. "ASIL! THEY'RE HERE! RUN-!" in one fluid movement, H.S. had pinned her arms down and covered her mouth.

"Please, calm down for a second. I will not harm 'Asil', as we call her."

 _'We?'_

"As long as you cooperate."

Sam seethed in anger. "You, are a very bad word from a very bad place that I will not say in case she is watching us."

"Fair enough," they opened up another portal-door, "hop in."


	4. Chapter 4

_Creak._ "Hello, child. Have you had dinner yet?" From her hiding place behind the chair, Sam's jaw dropped wide open.

Their hair was smoother, not rough and tousled like it had been meeting her. Leather jacket and jeans were now skinny jeans and a white lab coat. ' _Why do they look so different?_ ' _'_ Even their speech wasn't the same, although it was the same voice.

"H.S.!" Asil ran up to them, just like they planned, and asked, "Are you going to take me home now?"

"Did you eat your dinner?"

"Yeah!" Asil wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing chocolate all over. "And dessert, too!"

H.S. gave a gentle smile. "That's nice, but don't overdo it on the ice-cream, okay? Can't have your mama and papa scolding me for getting you all hyper."

"They won't mind."

H.S. raised an eyebrow playfully. "Really, now?"

Sam felt a tinge of envy. Maybe, if they had been playing doctor when she met them, she wouldn't have all these problems. But at least she knew the truth. Sam wondered how many others they revealed themselves to.

"Why are there two armchairs in here?" they questioned. In answer, Asil held up her teddy bear. "I was talking to Celeste. She's a bit shy, though, so she can't talk."

"Hm." with a wave of their hand, 'Celeste' was dressed in miniature clothing. "Maybe talking doesn't suit them, but they sure are good listeners, aren't they?"

Asil nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I was telling her all about a lot of things."

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh. Like, how I wish I could explore. But I can never find the door you come in through. Me and S...eleste looked all over!"

H.S. narrowed their eyes. "You... have met with Sam. Darling, she's not a good influence. Did she tell you how she got out?"

Asil bit her lower lip nervously, "W-who's Sam? I don't know a Miss Sam!"

Sam was sweating behind the armchair. She had a backup plan, in case Asil messed up. Asil just needed to cue her.

"Sam is a neutral name that could be assigned to any gender. To know that Sam is a 'Miss', not a 'Mr.', 'Mrs.' or 'Ms.', you would've had to meet her." That clever bastard! In her anger, she almost missed the signal.

Vaulting over the couch, the conjured red cape behind her fluttered dramatically. ' _Intimidation tactics might actually be useful for this._ '

"Hiya, H.S. Care to give us some answers?" Sam held her fists up, ready for a tussle.

"And if I do not?"

Sam punched the air in their direction, desperately hoping for her plan to work. H.S. stumbled back, a satisfactory scratch on their face. "Then I'll give you more scars to match the one on your eye."

To her annoyance, H.S. just chuckled. "I see that you have figured out how to adapt the void's powers to your advantage. Well, no matter." They side-stepped the next air punch. With a snap of their fingers, their weird eye lit up. A doorway appeared. "Go forth and explore. I shall not stop you."

Grabbing Asil, Sam sprinted for the door. Anywhere but here, was a better chance of escaping. Besides, if they changed their mind…

She knocked H.S. out while passing by and entered the darkness.

* * *

The next room was far from what either of them expected. Sunshine filtered in through the stained glass, creating beautiful coloured patches on the floor. And the books. Sixteen long shelves of books, more than twice as many as the biggest library she'd been to, adorned the walls.

"Woah." both of them said simultaneously.

This made Asil giggled, "Jinx."

Good to know that the little genius actor was still a kid at heart.

Setting her passenger down, Sam examined the nearest book. "Sam A. Rowanheart. One slash twenty-eight slash- something illegible -C.E., Eighth Year of Life." Why did it have her name on it? Carefully removing the writing from its dusty frame, she flipped to a random page. "Let's see… "

 _She grabbed the toy and made big, Bambi eyes at her father. "Please, Daddy?"_

" _Mommy's going to be upset…_ "

" _But you promised, Daddy! You said, ''I will get you that toy if you stop bothering me, and go do your homework.'_ '"

 _His eyes creased in a smile. "Alright, alright. You know, I spoil you too much."_

A wet splotch appeared on the handwritten page, smearing the ink. Sam remembered the good times she had with her father, before he passed. Gently caressing the book, she looked down. Asil was tugging on the hem of her shirt. "Miss Sam?"

Composing herself, she let out a choked "Yeah?"

"Why are you crying?"

Sam wiped away the unbidden tears. "I'm not crying, sweetie." Seeing the sceptical look on the other's face, "C'mon, let's see if there's another room." But when they turned around…

The doorway wasn't there.

"It closed right after we stepped through," Asil told her. _'Oh no.'_

"That's okay, we'll just find- or wish for- another door. Why don't we split up?"

The little girl nodded, eyes full of determination. "Yes ma'am," and gave a salute before running off.

"Don't wander too far!" Sam shouted after her, before realising how motherly she was being. "Ha ha..."

She flipped through more pages, than books, finding events, described in vivid detail, of her life when she was eight. Going onto the next aisle, it was words upon words of transcribed memories from when she was nine. Every single day, every little secret, every lie and hope and thought. Everything was recorded in these pages. _'How long this must've taken to write… months, years, even… a lifetime.'_ With a start, the idea that H.S., or someone else, was probably the writer, surfaced. She shook it off, knowing that they couldn't have stalked her since the very beginning. Or, known her dreams. She would have to investigate this later.

Moving on to the last shelf of books, Sam noticed that these looked newer. Again, everything was titled with a date and her name, and the 'year of life'.

"Sixteenth Year of Life..." That's it! It was probably recorded somewhere how she got here!

Running down the hallway created by the bookshelf and wall, Sam stopped at the end.

"Where is it where is it where is it- ah ha!"

She triumphantly raised her prize up in the air - 'Sam A. Rowanheart. 7/06/o͡#͍̤i̶͇͚̱n͚%t͏̘̥ C.E., Sixteenth Year of Life'

"Why are all the years unreadable?" she gave a sigh of disappointment. "Well, at least I know from my own knowledge."

Realizing that she hadn't checked on Asil for a while, Sam called out, "ASIIIIL! ASIL?"

"Yes, Miss Sam?" came the faint reply.

"JUST CHECKING TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE SAFE!" and then she went back to the book. "Seven o' clock. It looks like I was excited. I was… going to take the test drive for driving school! Oh yeah, I'm probably missing that right now." How could she have forgotten? Thumbing through breakfast and the bus ride, until she was driving. "The clipboard he held… I made a left… WHAT!" She almost dropped the book in surprise.

 _'Suddenly, a white SUV van (license plate being Minnesota, FAA-4563, 10,000 lakes) came around the corner, having ran a red light. Impact was unavoidable, even as the instructor reached for the emergency brake. The car was hit on the port side, then from the back as they interrupted the flow of traffic. Airbags inflated in less than a second, but not fast enough to catch the debris. Sam's head slammed into the stick, coffee scalding her face. The instructor, by a sheer miracle, was still alive. But it seems that Sam is lurching into The Middle. Ah, that is quite sad. It will be a rough journey for her._

 _It seems that, after only sixteen short human years, my job is coming to an end. What form will I greet her in, I wonder? Perhaps… drawing number 3,465 will do. Bid life farewell, Sam, as you enter my realm. And, as I see a future where, you may be reading this, you may want to look behind you.'_

Slowly, the said person turned around to come face to face with the 'author' this biography.

"Hello, Sam."

By instinct, she swiped at them. They caught her hand with ease. "How rude."

If she couldn't save herself, at least she had to warn her companion. "ASIL! THEY'RE HERE! RUN-!" in one fluid movement, H.S. had pinned her arms down and covered her mouth.

"Please, calm down for a second. I will not harm 'Asil', as we call her."

 _'We?'_

"As long as you cooperate."

Sam seethed in anger. "You, are a very bad word from a very bad place that I will not say in case she is watching us."

"Fair enough," they opened up another portal-door, "hop in."


	5. Chapter 5

When she entered the next room, she saw a cause for both worry and relief.

"Miss Sam!"

Asil, still dressed in her white hospital shift, was caged. As in, an actual cage with steel bars and everything.

"Asil!"

H.S. raised an arm, preventing Sam from approaching. "I gave you my word. She will be safe, as long as you cooperate."

If only a look could kill…

They conjured up two rocking chairs, one with a very oddly shaped back. H.S. gestured her to sit down in the normal one. It felt nice, actually, but Sam wasn't going to say that.

"Would you mind if I stretched a bit?" No reply from her. "I'll take that as a no."

After seating themself, the two wings that Sam saw before (it felt like an eternity ago) sprung forth from nowhere. At this point, she wasn't even surprised anymore.

"Pretty!" Asil squealed. Leaning back as far as the deformed chair would allow, the feathers gently brushed against the bars. Just into Asil's reach. "So soft..."

Sam was tempted to stop her, but didn't. Who knew what classified as 'not cooperating' ?

"Are you just going to stare at me?" Sam said curtly.

"No."

"Then what?"

They tapped their finger to their temple, thinking. "I'm not sure where to start."

"Well, how 'bout you ask for _my opinion?_ " She smiled at her own sarcasm, but didn't expect them to take it.

"Sure." Sam gaped at them, unbelieving. "So, do you want the lies that it's all okay, or just cut straight to the point? Or perhaps an explanation?"

' _Okay. Play it cool, Sam. Now's your chance._ '

"Explain. Now." And then she mentally facepalmed. H.S. seemed not to notice.

"Get yourself comfy. It's story time," and then cuffs appeared from the armrests, binding her in place. "What the-!"

The world fell apart. Imagine a beautiful glass mosaic, and smash it with a wrecking ball. The floor, the wall, the ceiling. It just… shattered, becoming the grayscale void Sam had arrived in. "I said explain! Or are you just going to torture me more?" She turned to Asil to see her reaction. Asil was eerily quiet and pale. ' _What is happening?'_

"I have no intentions of torture. Just the need to talk." they exhaled slowly. "First off, you know that I am the writer of your 'biography', as you call it."

"Yeah?"

"And that you died in a car accident."

It took awhile to respond. Yes, she had known, but refused to accept it. "So, is this the afterlife? It sure doesn't seem like a haven, so I'm guessing hell." ' _This is what I get for being an atheist._ '

"You are jumping to conclusions. This," they spread their arms apart, indicating the space around them, "is The Middle. "Think of this void as an alternate dimension of your world, that's on the same plane of existence."

"The middle of?"

"Life and Death," they said. ' _Oh. That was obvious.'_

 _"_ So now what? _"_

"Now, time is irrelevant. So you ask me however many questions you like."

Alright, then. Most important one first. "Can I go back to life?"

"No. Those rare miracle cases where I failed my job will not apply to you."

Sam filed that away for another question. "Am I going to heaven or hell?"

"Are you Christian?"

Wasn't she supposed to be asking stuff? Sam shook her head no.

"Then neither. You go wherever you believe in."

"What if I'm not religious?"

To this, H.S. raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you get reincarnated. With your memories wiped, of course."

 _'Just like in mythology'_ she thought. It was all too weird.

New topic. "Who are you?"

"A difficult question. Be more specific."

The command sparked her short fuse, but there was nothing Sam could do. This person held more power than both Asil and her put together, probably since this was their home.

"I mean, what are you? Why are you here? And what role do you play in all this, other than being my captor? And then there's your wings and that weird eye and stuff? And-"

H.S. raised their hand, signalling her to pause. "Too many questions. First, I am the copy of a gender-neutral being, whose job is to send all sentient beings into the afterlife they deserve. This includes certain animals, what you may call 'extraterrestrial beings', and of

course, humans. I feel sorry for that me, actually. From what I gather, it's painful to split."

"As for my questionable biology?" They flutter said wings a bit. "These are for travel, when I follow my host around. I can enter your world, but most people can't see me." H.S. admitted.

"What do you mean by 'most people'? And your eye?"

"Little kids might see me as an imaginary friend. And my eye is for reality bending." Flipping some hair out the way, Sam saw the other eye clearly. Silver iris compared to the other blue one, with the white part being black. The vertical scar, running from forehead to cheekbone, was still there. "I'm sure you've seen several demonstrations of that already. "

Sam remembered the eye glowing thing she saw when they used their magic. "Uh-huh. And how do you know everything about me?"

H.S. smiled. "My fellow copies and I will stalk the organism they are assigned to the death, and have access to every thought and feeling. All the while, my original copies its DNA to replicate itself, and tries to find out how we got here. Through human and extraterrestrial knowledge, we've gathered enough data to draw rough inferences."

Now her head was really spinning. How was the Asil processing this information? Scooting to the right to get a better view of her, she was met with an empty cage. "Asil?" Maybe she had escaped!

"Ah, there she goes. Oh, well." They gave a shrug.

"You seem very indifferent to the fact that she is gone."

"Mm. So, back to our chat. Anything else you want to know?"

"Unless you did something to her, you _would_ care. " Her tone became more threatening. "Where did you move her to?"

"It seems," they pretended to check a wristwatch, "that our time is up."

"You said we had unlimited time! And you promised not to hurt her!" Sam struggled against her bonds.

"I did not hurt her. And by 'our time is up', I mean yours. I think I will send you to the next life now, and move on to another being. Perhaps the I will be assigned to a whale. Never haunted that one before."

Still unsettled, she raised her guard. "And how, exactly, are you going to 're-incarnate' me?"

H.S. chuckled (Sam was growing quite annoyed of that sound), and replied: "Do you remember when I showed you my true form?"

 _'True form-? Oh, right.'_ "Yeah? What does that have to do with this?"

"Everything." In a burst of light, the situation explained itself.


	6. Chapter 6

The shimmering cloak. The bloodied weapon, now a reaper's scythe.

"I will reap you now."

"You said no one would get hurt!"

"This doesn't hurt."

Sam was about to retort again, but stopped short. It would be fine for her (she really hoped it wouldn't hurt), but…

"What about Asil?"

"Asil was merely a figment of magic, created by yours truly to espionage."

Sam was stunned. This anomaly had been spying on her, toying, playing with her. The entire time. The girl that she'd grown to care for wasn't even real. And that… struck home.

"I hate your guts so much, I can barely talk right now."

H.S. raised the scythe to be parallel to Sam's head, preparing to bring it down upon her. "Really sorry to hear that, but nevertheless, I hope you get a nice next life." They extended a hand, offering one last shake. Sam spit on it.

"Oh," H.S. wiped their hand on the edge of the cloak. "It was nice to meet you."

"Goodbye."


End file.
